Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Why Didn't Anyone Ever Tell Me That Funfetti Is Just Vanilla Cake Mix With Jimmies In It? I Could've Been Making Ghetto Confetti Cakes This whole Time, You Jerks!

Okay, so. This has nothing to do with nails, but it does have to do with one of the main reasons I feel shitty all the time, which is why I never feel like posting. And it's kind of gross, but hey, this is my blog, and I'll share what I want.

Anyway, yesterday, I finally passed the kidney stone that's been putting me through hell for the past several months. Seven goddamn millimeters long, and four millimeters in diameter. And sharp and jagged as all get-out. So yeah, while it's been super fun having that little bugger tearing through my insides, I'm sososososo glad that it's finally out.

So glad, in fact, that I insisted on baking a cake to commemorate the occasion. My very first Funfetti cake. Which was not only delicious, but fun to look at! If I could, I'd share my cake with you, my dear, loyal readers. I still have sixteen pieces left, and after demolishing not one, not two, but three pieces by myself last night, I'm kinda caked-out, so there's more than enough to go around.

So yeah. Like I said, it has nothing to do with nails, but I'm telling you anyway, because I'm still excited about my little kidney baby (I named it Martin Luther King Jr. Jr. in honor of its birthday) and about cake. Because I love cake. You have no idea. Really.

Okay, okay, okay, I'll stop talking about my kidney stone cake and get on with this post. Sheesh. You guys are picky today...

So. Much like my last post, I'm not thrilled with the quality of today's pictures, but they're all I've got, so we're all just gonna have to suck it up. And since I only took, like, one and a half pictures of each manicure (okay, maybe I took three or four, but some of them really sucked), I'm going to post two manis today--for a staggering total of four pictures. Lame, I know. I'll try to do better next time.

(Well, I mean, not next time, since I already have some new mani shots waiting to be edited, and they may suck, too. But the next time I take pictures, I'll try to do better. More shots, better quality, etc.)

Right. Anyway. So. The first mani I'm posting today utilized five of my Kleancolor Metallics: Metallic Aqua, Metallic Blue, Metallic Purple, Metallic Fushcia (damn you and your wonky spelling, Kleancolor!), and Metallic Pink. Although it's not actually ombre, since the colors aren't all from the same family, I decided to dub this mani "Techno Ombre".

Now, back when I wore Kleancolor Metallic Green, which is one of my favorite polishes ever, I think, I noticed that adding a topcoat seriously transformed the finish of the polish. It went from being a kind of flat looking lime green metallic to some kind of deep and beautiful acid green anodized aluminum finish that I just couldn't get enough of. So when I ordered the rest of the Kleancolor Metallics collection, I figured the rest of them would react similarly to topcoat.

Well, I was mostly right. Sadly, of the eleven metallics, there are three of them (I think) that don't amazingly transform after topcoat is applied. And of of those three, one is Metallic Aqua, which kind of breaks my heart, 'cause if Aqua had a finish like Green does... *drools*

Annnnnyway, the reason I'm telling you all this is because the picture I have of my Techno Ombre mani is a side by side shot.


The left side is the colors with no topcoat (I think each color is two coats--these have great coverage). The right side is with topcoat.
Both taken in artificial light, with flash.

It's not as easy to see in the pictures as in real life--it's most apparent on with Metallic Fushcia and Metallic Purple in the picture--but once you add a topcoat to these colors, the finish kind of melts into... I don't even know. Pure awesomeness, I guess.

Except for Metallic Pink. That one doesn't get to be ranked as "pure awesome" for one huge reason: Although the finish does "melt" and get all deep and pretty looking, it also completely changes color! I don't know if this is just because of the topcoat I use, or if it's a problem with the polish itself, but adding topcoat to Metallic Pink turns it from sort of a cool based pink to a weird yellow-y pink that my camera always wants to pick up as borderline orange.


Wtf, Pink? Seriously!? Left: without topcoat, right: with topcoat.
Artificial light, flash.
  




I was actually pretty disappointed about the pink thing, since the way the color changed kind of messed up my color blend in this mani. But I still think it looked pretty cool overall.

A few of these colors (namely Metallic Teal, Metallic Blue, and Metallic Pink) did stain my nails a bit, even with basecoat. And after removal, my cuticles were all different colors for a day or so. But I like the finish on these puppies, so they'll definitely maintain their place in my polish rotation.


The second polish I have for you today is OPI Designer... De Better! from their Muppets collection. My dad and his girlfriend, Tracey, gave me the Muppettes mini collection--containing Designer... De Better!, Warm & Fozzie, Wokka Wokka!, and Excuse Moi!--for Christmas, and of the four colors, I was immediately drawn to Excuse Moi! (mmmmmglitter) and Designer... De Better!

I've seen a lot of other reviews call Designer a silver foil, but to me, it looks much more champagne-based. In some lights, it does look silver, but, to my eyes, in the vast majority of lights, it has a warmer color to it than I'd feel comfortable calling "silver". Not warm enough to be considered pale gold, but somewhere between pale gold and silver.

Now, normally, I think a champagne color would have me all "Meh.", but Designer... De Better! also has pinky-copper bits in there, too, and for me, that's what makes this color stand out. It's still a bit on the conservative side for my tastes, but it's far from blah.


I only have the mini-bottles (for now...), so I could only fit two nails on the bottle for pictures.
Artificial light, no flash.



Oh, OPI. Thank you so much for paying tribute to The Muppets. I LOVE YOU, JIM HENSON!
Artificial Light, flash.

I used three coats of this color for full coverage, and the finish was so nice and smooth. I think maybe I'm just so used to adding glitter on top of everything these days that I'm getting accustomed to kind of bumpy finishes. Removal was a little annoying, since the little particles really wanted to stick to my nails, but a little bit of elbow grease did the trick.

...

Oh my God, I hate when I start getting sleepy or distracted while typing up posts and lose my train of thought, but that's exactly what just happened. I yawned, and everything else I was going to say instantly blinked out of my head.

So, uhhhh, yeah. Two manicures. And kidney stones and cake! And I guess that's about it. I'm totally going to wrap this up right now so I can go back to bed for a few hours.

Oh, the joys of working from home. <3

Have a colorful Tuesday, everyone.

3 comments:

  1. I love the way the colors turned out. Imight try this with my own colors. Maybe add a black crackle to them...Great job!

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    1. Hehe, thanks! I was pretty stoked about this mani. : )

      Crackle polishes kinda freak me out, but they do look kind of neat on other people. And I've always been a fan of black against color blocking, so. I actually considered doing black French tips on this mani for interest, but was entirely too lazy.

      If you do decide to do some color blocking with black crackle, please let me know, as I'd love to see it! (Well, actually I follow your blog, so I'll get a notification of any new posts you make, but let me know anyway, 'cause that would make me feel special!)

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